VAL MARIE SCHOOL STUDENT PROJECT

An important part of the Val Marie Elevator Living Heritage project was engaging with youth. High school students from Val Marie School were invited to attend an Introduction to Intangible Cultural Heritage workshop at the Val Marie Community Centre on January 16, 2018. Nine students from Grades Ten and Eleven attended along with school secretary, January Legault. Along with about a dozen community members, the students spent the afternoon discussing the unique living heritage of Val Marie. A lot of enthusiasm was generated from the activity which paired youth with older community members. In discussion with Val Marie School principal, Angela Clement, and the online English Language Arts teacher, Sari Cloutier, a school project was developed for the Grades Ten and Eleven classes. The students spent a day with Kristin Catherwood from Heritage Saskatchewan learning the basics of making short video documentaries: developing a story, interview etiquette, and camera and microphone techniques. Students were split into groups and assigned the tasks of creating a short video about some aspect of the Val Marie Heritage elevator and an accompanying written essay documenting their experience. The students were encouraged to reach out to community members to learn about the elevator. Upon completion of their videos, the students were interviewed by Kristin about their experiences. The resulting video will be shown at the project launch event in Val Marie in September, 2018, and will thereafter be available online. The intent of the project was to connect youth to this iconic building in their community – a building which has always been a part of the townscape of their home community, but which faded from use before they were born. With the understanding that heritage lives on through younger generations, how will the elevator live on into the future?

THE END OF THE ELEVATOR KILLED THE TOWN Cassidy Duquette and Colt Kornfeld In our video we wanted to illustrate how the loss of the elevator killed our town. We interviewed our grandparents, Denis Duquette and Doris Kornfeld, who watched the whole process of the elevator take place during their time. With both of our interviews we got the memo that the loss of the elevator as well as the railway had a big impact on the community. Through the video, both Doris and Denis recall the past, and the impact the elevators had on it. Doris fondly recalls her childhood memories of elevators being the first thing that you noticed as you arrived in town. Denis remembers turning 16 years old and having the responsibility of selling grain for the family at the

local elevator. They also recall the effect that the loss of the elevator had on the farm families as well as those who worked in the elevator and on the railroad.

The elevators provided jobs and an opportunity for the farmers to market their grain, having no other costly way possible for them to sell grain and make a good profit. Our elevators are a trademark of the small towns that are quickly disappearing. For our grandparents, the elevators were a huge part of the community. A gathering place where the farmers had their morning coffee, and a place that they departed from to the bar after a long day. The loss of the use of this village centre created a hole in the community. If lost, that building that hosted all of these brilliant memories, the community itself would never be the same.

WHAT IS THE JOB OF THE ELEVATOR AGENT?

M a s o n D u q u e t t e , J a y n e H a n s o n , a n d B e a u L a r s o n Our town would look very plain if the elevator wasn’t here. For our project, we did the job of the elevator agent. We talked about what the elevator agent does. Maurice Lemire and Arthur Facette gave us very good tips and made the elevator agent seem like a really fun job. Our town wouldn’t be the same without our elevator.

Maurice Lemire’s father was a grain elevator agent and he liked to work with his dad a lot. This is why he has so much knowledge about it. Growing up he spent a lot of his childhood in the elevator. He taught us how to run the elevator and how he helped his dad. He also recalls getting his shoes fixed and his hair cut there too. Some of his favorite memories include when his dad would trim his and his six siblings’ hair. He has many memories in the elevator.

We also interviewed Arthur Facette. He has hauled to our elevator for a long time so he has a lot of experience with running it. He knows a lot about it. He also knows how much grain the elevator can hold. He knows how to weigh the grain and how to put grain in different parts of the elevator. They also planned who would be coming that day. There was also a lot of paperwork about when people were coming and how much money they made. They would often stay up late doing paperwork and schedule who was coming and when. They also graded the grain to see if it was good quality.

Our elevator is more than just an elevator. It holds so many memories. Our town wouldn’t be the same without it.

HOW THE ELEVATOR WORKS J e s s e C h r i s t i a n s o n , J a c o b D u q u e t t e , a n d C a m e r o n G r a n t The video we made was about how the elevator works. We will write about all of the system and what runs it. The elevator is a very neat thing because there are many different things about how they run and how you run them. We interviewed Arthur Facette and Maurice Lemire. Maurice Lemire’s father was a grain elevator agent for the first elevator in Val Marie which was built in 1927.

The elevator had a big part in the community and still does. Before big trucks, everyone sold their grain at the elevator in Val Marie. Now it must be driven at least an hour away from town. People still use the newer elevator for storing grain and weighing their trucks. The elevator is also a very good landmark. Everyone would miss the elevator if it was gone.

The old elevator, which was built in 1927, was powered by a gas motor underneath the grain elevator agent’s office. This powered all of the grain scoops which lifted the grain to the top of the elevator. The trucks would drive in and dump the grain in a grate in the floor, which was then picked up by the scoops and brought to the top. The elevator was beside the train tracks and would load train cars. These would then be shipped off to wherever the company that bought the grain wanted it.

The new elevator, which was made in 1967, runs on an electrical motor. The new elevator works just about the same as the old one, but is also able to clean seed. The seed cleaner can clean the seed so you can get weed seeds out of the seed grain. The main reason they built this newer elevator was because it stored a lot more grain. Now none of the grain elevators are in use other than for storage and weighing.